Is America Triple-Promising Global AID Dollars?
Mon, January 25, 2010 
I found The Gates Notes tracking Bill Gates’ weekend comments that he fears that global dollars are being double-pledged, first to global health care and now to the environment.
With the Haiti crisis, one must ask: “Is America triple-pledging aid dollars?” Or as one pundit asked: “Are we borrowing money from China to rebuild Haiti — again?” It isn’t that America is losing her generous soul. We’re just trying to understand governmental math?
Do we have the ‘pledge du jour’ and do we actually keep our word on those pledges? I don’t know the answer to this question. On a side note, I know that the government has failed miserably to deliver on its pledges to help women-owned businesses, earmarking 5% of federal contracts for women.
Bill Gates says that meeting the $100 billiion dollar goal pledged in Copenhagen — while sounding great — represent three-quarters of all foreign giving. His concern isn’t only America’s habit of over-promising but global trends.
What happens to existing programs that fight malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases in foreign countries? “If just 1 percent of the $100 billion goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases,” Gates added.
It seems that we need a blackboard in cyberspace. On the left side we have the promises made in terms of global aid, and to whom. On the right hand side, we subtract those promises from the total funds available. This is philanthropy math that Warren Buffett would preapprove. Anne
Reader Comments